Tag: Mathias Cormann

"That means bigger taxes on middle Australians, year after year. "It's not a magic number, or some sort of fundamental law. It seems more like politics than economics." The remarks by Professor Holden, a strong supporter of the Coalition's corporate tax cuts, have been echoed by other economists after the government vowed to formalise the tax-to-GDP cap as a new core fiscal rule in Tuesday's budget. "So if Labor wants to increase the overall tax burden in the economy at a cost to growth and jobs then they would have to formally change the fiscal strategy settings." "There are two sides to the budget – revenue and spending – and imposing a speed limit on one but not the other is fraught with risk," he warned. "Twenty-three-point-nine per cent of GDP is a decent tax speed limit in its own right – a worthy objective – but it's above the long-term average tax take. "It was almost plucked out of thin air. Who says the average during the Howard years is the optimal figure? "There was meant to be a rule that any windfall gains be applied to reducing debt and deficits, and clearly that's not going to happen this time."